The run sheet: the day from setup to teardown, and the day after
The day by the clock with a name on every line, a contact sheet, a kit packed the day before, teardown and the day-after list, and a short debrief while it is fresh.
- Start here: the essentials
- What a run sheet is
- Building the run sheet
- The program
- The contact sheet
- The day-of kit
- On the day
- Teardown and the day after
- The debrief
- Templates, timing and the full hotwash
- See it: Marcus's evening by the clock
- Practice: write the run sheet
- Your event
- Check your work
- Knowledge check and scenario
Start here Essentials
For a first pass, write the day by the clock with a name on each line, gather the phone numbers, pack the kit, and write a few notes afterward. For a dinner at home, this is one page.
- Write the times from setup to the end, with what happens at each. Start from the fixed times: guests arrive, food on the table, the end (building the run sheet).
- Put a name on each line. Use the names from your helpers sheet; your own goes on the rest (building the run sheet).
- List the phone numbers you would need on the day. Helpers, suppliers, the venue, and the street address for 911 (the contact sheet).
- Pack the kit the day before. Use the kit list and add what your event needs (the day-of kit).
- After the event, write three things to keep and three to change. Do it within a few days, while it is fresh (the debrief).
Minimum time: about 30 minutes for a dinner, plus the kit and ten minutes afterward. Done when: the run sheet covers setup to cleanup with a name on every line, and the debrief notes exist.
What a run sheet is Understand
A run sheet is the event day written as a timeline: each thing that happens, when it starts and ends, who does it, and where. Production staff call the same document a run of show. Barnard College's audiovisual office defines a run of show as giving "a detailed timeline of each element of the event," together with names and contact information for the people involved and other operational information (Barnard College's Run of Show templates). That definition is the reason this chapter pairs the timeline with a contact sheet: the times say what should happen, and the names and numbers say whom to call when it does not.
The run sheet does not make new plans. It gathers plans made elsewhere into one order: the start and end from The event brief, the roles and shifts from Volunteers and helpers, the suppliers' arrival times from their contracts in Hiring suppliers, and, for a meal, the cooking timeline from A dinner party. Writing them side by side is how conflicts show up: the caterer arriving while the tables are still stacked, or the speeches set for the moment the cake is being cut in the kitchen.
| Column | What goes in it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Time | When the item starts | 3:30 pm |
| Until | When it ends, if it takes time | 5:15 pm |
| What happens | One action or one moment, in a few words | Tables and chairs out; food tables along the kitchen wall |
| Who | A name, not "everyone" | First-shift setup crew; lead: a named parent |
| Where | The room, door or spot | Cafeteria; chairs from the stage storeroom |
| Notes or cue | What starts it, what to watch for, a number to call | Start when the custodian unlocks; leave the fire exits clear |
A cue is the signal that starts an item: a time, another item finishing ("after the main plates are cleared"), or a person ("when the guest of honor arrives"). The run sheet record has these six columns and sorts by time. Convention
When to write it
The university guides put the day-of plan in the last one or two weeks. Nazareth University says to write a day-of timeline, covering what happens when and who is responsible, one week before (Nazareth University's Event Planning Timeline). Northern Kentucky University places it one to two weeks out, along with listing every day-of task and getting a volunteer for each (Northern Kentucky University's How to Plan an Event). Our default is a draft two weeks out and a final version in the week of the event, after the suppliers confirm their times; The planning schedule puts both on the calendar. Convention
Building the run sheet
Build the sheet from the fixed points outward. A few times are set by things you do not control: when guests are told to arrive, when food is served, when the event ends, when the venue opens and when it must be empty, and when each supplier says they will come. Write those first. Then work backward for setup and forward for teardown.
- Write the fixed times. Start, serving time, end. From the venue: access time and checkout. From each supplier: arrival, ready-by and leave-by.
- Work back for setup. What must be in place before guests arrive, and how long each part takes with the people you have.
- Fill the event itself. Doors, food, the program, last call, the end.
- Work forward for teardown. Food off the table, cleanup, returns, the cash count, lock-up.
- Put a name on every line. Use the helpers sheet. A line with no name is a job nobody owns.
- Read it for collisions. One person in two places, two items in one spot, a supplier arriving before the door is unlocked.
Setup and teardown times
How early to start setup depends on the place and the work, so the sources give ranges for their own settings. Syracuse University's checklist tells campus groups to arrive one to three hours early, check lighting and sound, set up the food, and have someone at the door (Syracuse University's event planning checklist). Caterers ask for their own windows: Vanderbilt's catering terms ask for building access 2 hours before and 1 hour after an event (Vanderbilt Catering's policies), and Carnegie Mellon's caterer may need up to two hours before set-up and two hours after for breakdown (Carnegie Mellon's 2026 catering policies). Missouri State reminds groups to reserve the space for setup and teardown, not just the event (Missouri State's event planning timeline).
The run sheet record starts from offsets that are this manual's conventions, not any source's rule. Change each one to fit your place, your helpers and your suppliers' contracts. Convention
| Line | Starting offset (our convention) | What replaces it |
|---|---|---|
| Kit packed and checked | The day before | Nothing; earlier is fine |
| Setup begins | 2 hours before the start time | The venue's access time; how much there is to set up |
| Supplier arrivals | A blank row per supplier | The time in each supplier's written answer |
| Walk-through | 1 hour before the start | The venue contact's availability |
| Helpers' briefing | 30 minutes before the start | The shift start in the helpers sheet |
| Doors or guests arrive | The start time | Nothing |
| Food on the table | The serving time | The cooking timeline or the caterer |
| Food off the table | 2 hours after it goes out (1 hour above 90°F) | Nothing later; FSIS's limit (Feeding a crowd) |
| Last call or wind-down | 30 minutes before the end | The program |
| End | The end time | Nothing |
| Teardown | From the end time to 1 hour after | The venue's checkout time; a caterer's breakdown window |
The food line is the one offset that is not ours. FSIS says not to leave perishable food out of refrigeration more than 2 hours, or 1 hour when the temperature is above 90°F; the run sheet gives that clock a line and a name. For a dinner at home, setup is mostly the cooking timeline, and A dinner party builds it; the run sheet copies its key times and adds the rest of the evening.
The weather watcher's line
For an event outdoors, add a line from setup to the end for the weather watcher: one named person who watches the forecast and the sky and starts the weather plan. The National Weather Service's Event Ready guide says to name one person to watch the weather and activate the plan (the NWS Event Ready guide). What the plan says, and when it triggers, is in The contingency plan.
The program
The program is the part of the run sheet guests notice: the welcome, the food, toasts or speeches, the cake, a raffle draw, a game for the children. Each item gets a time, a person who runs it, and a cue. The 4-H event handbook from University of California Cooperative Extension says to make a time schedule for the day, and that free time and breaks "do not just happen" (UC Cooperative Extension's 4-H Event Handbook). At a party, the reverse is also true: a program with too many items leaves no time to talk, which is often the reason people came.
- Put the program items guests wait for at a time they can plan around. Speeches at 4:00 pm means the guest who has to leave at 4:30 hears them.
- Keep speeches away from the busiest moment of food service. People line up for food or listen; they rarely do both.
- Write who introduces each item, and who has the microphone or quiets the room. At a home party this is often the point person.
- Write a cue for anything that depends on something else. "Cake after the plates are cleared," not "cake at 5:00," if the food runs late.
- For a raffle, write the draw time and who draws, and post the time. Whether the raffle is allowed is a separate question (Permits and insurance).
The program also has a first item no guest sees: the moment the helpers are told the plan has changed. If the program slips, the point person tells each line's owner. The run sheet is the plan; the point person changes it on the day.
The contact sheet
The contact sheet is the run sheet's other half: everyone you might need to reach on the day, with a phone number and the time they are due. Barnard's definition puts names and contact information in the run of show itself. We keep them in a separate sheet so the timeline stays readable, and print both. Convention
| Who | Why you need them on the day |
|---|---|
| The host and the point person | Every helper needs these two numbers |
| Each helper, with their role | To call a late helper or a backup |
| Each supplier, with the arrival time | To check on a late delivery; the person who answers on the day, not the sales office |
| The venue contact, and whoever has the keys | Locked doors, heat, power, the alarm, the checkout |
| The person in charge of food | Questions about the food go to one person |
| The street address of the place, written out | What you read to 911; The contingency plan has the emergency fields |
The contact sheet starts with a row for the host and one per supplier on your quotes table. Northern Kentucky's guide says to remind every volunteer the day before when to show up; the contact sheet is the list you work through. The sheet holds other people's phone numbers, so it stays in this browser unless you print or export it on purpose; collect printed copies at the end of the day.
The day-of kit
The day-of kit is a box or bag of small things that stop small problems from becoming errands. The list below is this manual's convention, built from the sources' mentions of what goes wrong (University of New Mexico's guide says to have a volunteer ready for a store run, and Syracuse's to check lighting and sound) and the American Red Cross's first aid kit. Convention Pack it the day before, and add what your event needs.
| Item | Why |
|---|---|
| Printed copies of the run sheet and contact sheet | One for the host, the point person and each lead; a phone battery runs out |
| Phone charger and a charged battery pack | The host's phone is the contact sheet |
| A first aid kit | See below |
| Tape (masking or painter's), scissors, markers, paper | Signs, labels, a direction arrow, a "kitchen staff only" note |
| Pens and a clipboard | The cash count sheet, a guest's allergy question, notes for the debrief |
| Extension cords and a power strip | Slow cookers, a speaker, a coffee urn; the nearest outlet is often across the room |
| Trash and recycling bags, paper towels, wipes | Cleanup starts during the event |
| Serving utensils, one per dish, and allergen cards | Feeding a crowd has the labelling |
| A food thermometer | FSIS's Cooking for Groups lists food thermometers among the equipment a group needs |
| Change and a cash box, for a fundraiser | Northern Kentucky's guide says to arrange change and a secure place for the money |
| Copies of permits, the venue agreement, supplier contracts and any insurance certificate | Someone may ask to see them on the day |
| Outdoors: sunscreen, water, a flashlight, weights or ties for anything that blows | The weather plan in The contingency plan |
Find the outlets on the walk-through, before anything is plugged in.
The first aid kit
The American Red Cross lists what a first aid kit for a family of four should hold, including 25 assorted adhesive bandages, 2 absorbent compress dressings, 5 antiseptic wipe packets, 5 antibiotic ointment packets, 2 pairs of nonlatex gloves, a breathing barrier, an instant cold compress, an emergency blanket, gauze pads and roller bandages, tweezers, an oral thermometer and first aid instructions (the Red Cross's Anatomy of a First Aid Kit). It says to check expiration dates and add personal medications and emergency phone numbers. That list is sized for a family; for a larger event, the point is to have one, know where it is, and say so in the briefing. Who is trained and where the nearest AED is are fields in The contingency plan.
A first aid kit is supplies, not training. This manual does not teach first aid. The Red Cross offers classes; in an emergency, call 911 and give the street address from the contact sheet.
On the day
Three things happen before guests arrive that the run sheet should hold.
- Check what arrived. Nicholls State's guide says to arrive on time to set up, walk the space to check that deliveries arrived, and check sound and audiovisual equipment (Nicholls State's event planning guide). Tick each supplier's line when they come.
- Walk through with the venue contact. Missouri State says to walk the space with the facility's event manager at least one hour before the event. A walk-through is a slow walk of the guest's route and the work areas: doors unlocked, exits clear, restrooms stocked, outlets found, the accessible route open (Venue and layout).
- Brief the helpers. West Chester's guide says to share the day's schedule with the team, test the audiovisual equipment and mark where lines will form (West Chester University's event planning resource).
Keep one helper free. The University of New Mexico's guide says to have a volunteer ready for a store run on the day of the event (UNM's Event Planning Guide): ice, forks, a forgotten cake knife. That person's run sheet line reads "on call for errands", with their phone number, and they do not hold a role that stops when they leave.
Then the event runs, and the run sheet changes. A caterer is 20 minutes late; rain comes at 3:30; the speeches start early because the guest of honor is ready. The point person makes those changes and tells each line's owner. The run sheet does not need to be rewritten on the day; a pen line through a time and the new time written beside it is enough, and the changed lines are useful in the debrief.
A run sheet is the plan. On the day, the person named for decisions changes it, and The contingency plan says when a change is not a choice: lightning, an injury, a missing child, too many people for the room. A run sheet does not make an event go to time.
Teardown and the day after
Teardown is everything from the end time until the place is as you found it. It needs names as much as setup does, and fewer people stay for it. The guides agree on what it includes: Nicholls says to return all equipment and leave the space as you found it; Nazareth says to leave the venue presentable and put furniture back where it was; Arkansas Extension's event checklist ends its day with "Clean up, lock up facility" (University of Arkansas Extension's event checklist).
- Food first. Leftovers into the refrigerator or coolers within the 2-hour limit; Feeding a crowd covers what to keep and what to discard.
- Cash next, for a fundraiser. Two people count together, at the time on the sheet, before anyone leaves (Volunteers and helpers).
- Rentals sorted for pickup. Count chairs, tables and linens against the order, and stack them where the supplier will collect them.
- Trash and recycling out. Where the venue says, not where it is convenient.
- Checkout. Lights, heat or air conditioning, doors, keys returned. Walk the space once more for phones, coats and a child's shoe.
The day-after list
The day-after list is the work that is left once the event is over. The after sheet has a row for each, with a date and notes.
| Task | When | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Return borrowed and rented items; check they are picked up | The day after, or the supplier's pickup window | Nicholls; UC Cooperative Extension's 4-H handbook (thank the lenders) |
| Deposit cash and checks | The next business day | Northern Kentucky |
| Pay balances; ask for deposits back | By each contract's date | Nicholls; The budget |
| Thank helpers, suppliers and lenders, in writing | Within a few days | Nicholls; Syracuse; Volunteers and helpers |
| Take down signs and notices | Within 24 hours | Syracuse |
| Enter the actual costs and income in the budget | Within a week | Nicholls; UNM (update the budget) |
| Donor acknowledgments, for a fundraiser | As the group's treasurer sets | The budget |
| Hold the debrief and keep the notes | Soon; within a week | Ohio School Safety Center; Northern Kentucky |
The timing column is a mix: the deposit and the signs are the sources' figures for their settings, and "within a few days" and "within a week" are our defaults. Convention
The debrief
A debrief is a short conversation, or for a host alone a short note, about what to keep and what to change. The method here comes from a public-safety source, used only for its format. The Ohio School Safety Center's Hotwash Guide describes a hotwash as a facilitated discussion to capture feedback after an exercise, a planned event or a real-world incident, covering strengths and areas for improvement (the Ohio School Safety Center's Hotwash Guide). Four parts of it fit a party, a reunion or a school dinner.
- Soon. The guide says to hold it as soon as possible after the end, while events are still fresh. For a committee, that can be ten minutes after cleanup, or a meeting within the week; Northern Kentucky's guide says to hold an evaluation meeting with everyone who helped no more than a week after.
- One person facilitates. The guide says every hotwash has a facilitator, who keeps the discussion focused, brief and constructive. A facilitator asks the questions and keeps time; they do not defend their own decisions.
- No blame; systems, not people. The guide calls for a "low-stress, no-fault environment" that focuses on systems, processes and plans, not specific people. "The pasta ran out at 7:10" leads to "we cooked to 100 and sold 120"; "Pat was slow" leads nowhere useful.
- Note problems; do not solve them in the room. The guide says problems raised are noted rather than solved on the spot, and items outside the discussion go on a parking lot, a list of things to deal with later.
What to write down: three things to keep, three to change, and the numbers (guests who came against the planning number, what was spent against the budget, and for a fundraiser what was raised). Ohio State's event summary template has a field for attendance, expected and actual, which is the number next year's planner most needs (Ohio State's Event Summary template). The University of New Mexico's guide says to leave notes for future coordinators, and West Chester's to keep notes and files for the next officer. The debrief sheet holds all of it.
For a host alone, the debrief is a note written the next morning. For a family, it is a few minutes over the leftovers. For a committee, it is a meeting with one person asking the questions. The format scales down; the paperwork does not need to scale with it.
The hotwash comes from a public-safety exercise guide, where its notes feed a formal after-action report. We use it here for its format only: soon, facilitated, no blame. A family party does not need an after-action report, and nothing in this manual suggests one.
Templates, timing and the full hotwash Go deeper
When the day-of plan is written
| Source | When | What it governs |
|---|---|---|
| Nazareth University | One week before | A day-of timeline with who is responsible for each task |
| Northern Kentucky University | One to two weeks before | Every day-of task listed, a volunteer for each, a day-of schedule |
| West Chester University | The week of, shared on the day | A to-do list for setup, event and cleanup; the schedule shared with the team on the day |
| Missouri State University | One week before (confirmations) | Setups, audiovisual, meal and beverage counts confirmed |
The campus guides govern student groups inside campus booking systems, so their dates follow approval queues as much as the work. The draft-and-final default in this chapter sits inside their range.
Barnard's templates
Barnard publishes run-of-show templates for in-person, webinar, hybrid and contractor-run events. For contractor-run events, it says a run of show remains critical because the outside production team has to coordinate with the college's own staff and departments. The same is true at a small scale: when a caterer or a rental company runs part of the day, their arrival, ready-by and leave-by times go on your sheet, and your contact goes on theirs.
The full hotwash method
The Ohio guide gives two ways to run one. General: ask for all strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement across the whole event, which lets people raise what they noticed without prompting. Grouping: take one theme at a time (its examples are water distribution, internal communication and external communication); for an event, the themes could be setup, food, money and cleanup. Its timing differs by setting: as soon as possible after a planned event; within three business days of the end of a real-world incident response; and, for an operations-based exercise that cannot debrief at once, within two weeks. It suggests reviewing the notes from the event first, preparing prompting questions, and keeping a sign-in sheet when the hotwash is not held right after the event. Its tips include "Know your audience", which for a family means a short conversation, not a meeting.
Where the hotwash leads in its own setting
FEMA's Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program records evaluation in an After-Action Report/Improvement Plan, documenting strengths, areas for improvement, capability performance and corrective actions; through improvement planning, organizations take corrective actions to improve their plans (FEMA's HSEEP page). The one idea worth taking for a recurring event is the last: next to each "change next time", write who will make the change, so the note does not sit in a folder until next year.
The Community Tool Box's debrief questions
For a fundraiser, the Community Tool Box lists debrief questions: did we reach the net-revenue goal; what did it actually cost; how many staff and volunteer hours did it take; did we reach the intended audience; was it accessible; were there safety problems; were there complaints or privacy concerns; what should change next time (the Community Tool Box's fundraiser section). It adds that the group should decide whether to repeat the event, shrink it, change it or end it, and not grow it automatically.
A card for each helper
For an event with many helpers, print each person's lines from the run sheet on an index card: their role, their times, their spot, the point person's number, the first aid kit's location and the meeting point. It is the run sheet filtered to one name, and it fits in a pocket.
See it: Marcus's evening by the clock See it
Marcus Bell is a fictional person, and every fact about his dinner is invented for this manual. He is hosting five guests in his one-bedroom apartment on a Saturday: guests arrive at 7:00 pm and the main course goes on the table at 7:30 pm. The menu is a sheet-pan main, one side made the day before, a salad, bread, and a dessert bought from a bakery. He cooks alone; one friend has agreed to help clear. His kitchen has one oven, and his cooking timeline in A dinner party settles that the side cannot share the oven with the main at a different temperature, so the side is reheated while the main rests.
Known: the 7:00 and 7:30 times, the menu, one oven, one helper for clearing. Assumed (Marcus's): the oven times come from his cooking timeline in A dinner party (both pans in at 6:20, out to rest at 7:05, the gratin reheated at 350°F from 7:05), which rest on his own recipe figures; he picks up the dessert at 4:00 pm; the evening ends around 10:00 pm.
| Time | Until | What happens | Who | Notes or cue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday evening | Side dish made and refrigerated; table set with the leaf in; wine bought; kit checked | Marcus | Table and kit the night before | |
| 4:00 pm | 4:30 pm | Pick up dessert from the bakery | Marcus | Bakery's hours checked Friday |
| 5:30 pm | 6:00 pm | Season the chicken and cut the potatoes on two pans; wash and dry salad greens | Marcus | Nut-free board and knife for the salad |
| 6:05 pm | 6:20 pm | Oven preheats to 425°F | Marcus | From his cooking timeline |
| 6:20 pm | 7:05 pm | Both pans in the oven | Marcus | From his cooking timeline |
| 6:45 pm | 7:00 pm | Kitchen cleared; water and glasses out; candles placed | Marcus | Candles 12 inches from anything that can burn (Permits and insurance) |
| 7:00 pm | Guests arrive; drinks | Marcus; friend arrives | Phone on the counter, sound on | |
| 7:05 pm | 7:30 pm | Chicken checked at 165°F and out to rest; oven to 350°F and the gratin in to reheat; bread in at 7:20; salad dressed | Marcus | Cue: the chicken's timer |
| 7:30 pm | Main course on the table | Marcus | Guest with the tree nut allergy served first, from separate utensils | |
| 8:15 pm | 8:30 pm | Clear the main course; dessert out | Friend clears; Marcus brings dessert | Cue: plates finished |
| 9:15 pm | Leftovers into the refrigerator | Marcus | Before 9:30, 2 hours after the main went out | |
| About 10:00 pm | Guests leave | Marcus | Collect anything left behind | |
| Sunday morning | Dishes; three keep, three change | Marcus | Debrief note |
His contact sheet has six numbers: the five guests (in case someone is lost or late) and the bakery. His street address, with the apartment number and the door code, is written at the top for 911. His kit is small: the printed sheet on the refrigerator, a charged phone, serving utensils with one set kept apart for the nut-free dishes, trash bags, and the first aid kit he already owns. His debrief note on Sunday reads, as an example: keep the side made a day ahead, the 15-minute rest, and the friend clearing; change the dessert pickup to the morning, buy more bread, and open the wine before guests arrive.
Open: whether two bottles of wine are enough (A dinner party's drinks line, under his assumptions), and what changes if a guest cancels that afternoon (The contingency plan: only the place setting). Every line has a name, and the sheet runs from setup to cleanup.
Elena Ortiz (fictional) is planning her mother Carmen's 70th birthday in her brother Luis's backyard, on a Saturday in June from 2:00 to 6:00 pm: 45 guests, eight of them children, a taco caterer serving from 3:00 pm, a rented 20-by-30-foot tent, and speeches at 4:00 pm.
Known: start, end, food at 3:00, speeches at 4:00. Assumed (Elena's, from this chapter's offsets): setup from 12:00, a walk-through at 1:00, food off the table at 5:00 (2 hours after 3:00), teardown from 6:00 to 7:00. The weather line runs from 12:00 to 6:00 and names her other brother as the weather watcher. In her draft, the speeches line reads "4:00 pm, under the tent, Luis introduces; cue: the caterer's line has emptied". Open: the tent's delivery and pickup windows (the rental company's written answer, Hiring suppliers); the caterer's arrival time (its contract); and the food-off time if the forecast is above 90°F, when FSIS's limit becomes 1 hour and the line moves to 4:00 pm (Feeding a crowd).
Dana Whitfield (fictional, they/them) runs the volunteers for a school spaghetti dinner, 5:30 to 8:00 pm on a Friday in March, with 14 volunteers in two shifts. Known: the cash count, two people together, at 8:15 pm. Assumed (Dana's plan): setup from 3:30, a walk-through with the custodian at 4:30, the first shift's briefing at 5:00, a shift handover from 6:30 to 6:45, cleanup from 8:00 to 9:00, and lock-up at 9:00. The 8:15 line reads "Cash count: the treasurer and the second-shift ticket volunteer, together, in the school office; both sign the count sheet". The day-after list has the deposit on Monday, the next business day, and a debrief with the parent group the following week, with Dana facilitating and a parking lot for anything about next year's date. Open: the raffle draw time, which Dana sets once the raffle question in Permits and insurance is answered.
Practice: write the run sheet Practice
Minimum: a run sheet from setup to cleanup with a name on every line, a contact sheet, and a packed kit. Time: 30 minutes for a dinner; one to two hours for a group event. Materials: your brief, your helpers sheet, your suppliers' written times, your cooking timeline if there is a meal, and the run sheet record.
- Enter the fixed times. Start, serving time and end in setup fill the record's first rows; add the venue's access and checkout and each supplier's arrival.
- Adjust the seed offsets. Change setup, walk-through, briefing and teardown to fit your place and your helpers.
- Add the program. Each item with a time, a person and a cue.
- Put a name on every line. Then read down the "who" column for anyone in two places at once.
- Fill the contact sheet. Every name on the run sheet, every supplier, the venue, and the street address.
- Tick the kit list on the kit sheet the day before, and print the run sheet and contact sheet.
- After the event, work through the after sheet and fill the debrief sheet: three to keep, three to change, and the numbers.
Run a grouped debrief. With a committee, take four themes in turn (setup, food, money, cleanup), ask for what worked and what to change under each, keep a parking lot, and next to each change write who will make it. Print helper cards with each person's lines from the run sheet.
Your event Your event
Check your work Check your work
Criteria
- Does the run sheet start at setup and end when the place is cleaned and locked, not at the event's end time?
- Does every line have a name?
- Are the suppliers' times their written times, not guesses?
- Is there a line, with a name, for taking food off the table at 2 hours (1 hour above 90°F)?
- Does the contact sheet have every helper, every supplier, the venue contact and the street address?
- Was the kit packed the day before?
- For a fundraiser, is the cash count on the sheet with a time and two names?
- Do debrief notes exist, with what to keep, what to change and the numbers?
Worked example
Marcus's sheet starts Friday evening and ends Sunday morning; every line has his name or his friend's; the leftovers line is at 9:15, inside the 2 hours; his contact sheet has his address for 911; the kit is checked Friday. His debrief note exists. It passes. The cooking times on it are his assumptions, settled by his cooking timeline, and the sheet says so.
Common mistakes
- A run sheet that stops at the end time. Teardown and the cash count are where helpers run out.
- "Everyone" in the who column. Put a name.
- Setup time guessed instead of checked. The venue's access time decides when setup can start.
- Speeches during the food line. Move one of them.
- No one free for errands. Keep one helper on call for a store run.
- A debrief that becomes a blame session. Talk about the plan, not the person.
What is still unresolved
Supplier arrival and pickup times are settled by their written answers (Hiring suppliers). The decisions the run sheet does not make, such as stopping for lightning or calling 911, are in The contingency plan. The cooking times on a dinner's run sheet come from A dinner party. The actual costs go into The budget.